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Photos: Zoe Bennell
Vanbrugh beat Langwith 5-2 in a thrilling goal fest on 22 Acres, taking advantage of some terrible defending from the men in yellow. A string of goals from both teams made for a lively display but it was the set pieces that that made the difference in the game. Langwith started promisingly, taking the lead early on with a counter attack and a professional finish from Okusanya, one on one with the keeper. However, their pressure soon expired as Vanbrugh began to settle and equalised through a well taken goal from Elliot Rous-Ross after Langwith failed to clear the free kick. Vanbrugh’s second showed an even greater exposure of their opposition’s struggle to defend set pieces when Chris Wignall was not picked up and provided a powerful finish to give keeper Cheshire no chance.
Corners proved to be a definite vulnerability for Langwith with a good save from Cheshire pushing Brewer’s effort over the bar. Vanbrugh continued to pressure throughout the first half and looked dangerous in attack with a great run and cross from Joe Lund that couldn’t be finished in the box. Their pressure didn’t go unrewarded when a free kick from Watkins went all the way through to give Vanbrugh a two goal cushion. The first half ended with Wignall and Rous-Ross engaging in some promising link up play as Langwith faded, diminishing any hope of a goal back before half time. Langwith’s defending didn’t improve in the second half as Vanbrugh looked to extend their goal rout. They did just that via a great striker’s goal by Rous-Ross who showed swift pace to shrug off the defenders and a great finish in the corner to make it 4-1.
Langwith responded quickly to get one back with a free kick from captain Marcus Campbell who whipped in a good delivery with Vanbrugh this time being guilty of poor defending, failing to clear it. Any hope of a comeback was short lived however when some truly criminal defending put Vanbrugh back in control. A mix up between the defence and keeper allowed Watkins to claim his second and Vanbrugh’s fifth to restore their firm authority on the game. Langwith didn’t surrender however and had a good spell of pressure. Some careless defending by the Vanbrugh defence left them thinking they had a goal back when Hooper was forced into a good save to clear a poor back pass off the line. Often however, they were unable to follow through with chances and Vanbrugh also could have scored more with Rous-Ross and Graham failing to hit the target in the closing stages of the match.
After the game, Langwith captain Marcus Campbell told Vision “The result didn’t reflect how well we played at times. Things were much more promising in the second half, but our poor defending allowed them to capitalise and get the win.”